{"id":128,"date":"2021-09-07T14:14:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-07T18:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.learncsp.com\/?p=128"},"modified":"2022-05-25T04:58:43","modified_gmt":"2022-05-25T04:58:43","slug":"close-the-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pipelinecomics.com\/learncsp\/close-the-gap\/","title":{"rendered":"Close the Gap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Trouble With Open Shapes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take a simple shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, let\u2019s color it in with the Fill tool. (\u201cG\u201d is the keyboard shortcut for this.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oops!  This rectangle isn\u2019t complete.  The black line doesn\u2019t close on the left side. That small gap makes filling the shape in with color impossible. Or does it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if that small gap is part of your artistic style?  You\u2019re not drawing a coloring book.  Everything doesn\u2019t need to be neatly enclosed by thick black lines. How can you get Clip Studio Paint to stop at where the line should be<\/em>, not just where it is<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s one obvious workaround for this.  You can complete the line with the same color you plan on filling the shape with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, when you fill the shape, that line looks like part of the fill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That will work, but it\u2019s not necessary.  (Also, depending on other settings, you can sometimes see a tiny gap between your line and the fill.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Close Gap<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Clip Studio Paint has a setting in the Fill tool<\/strong> for just this case. It\u2019s called \u201cClose Gap\u201d<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By default, it shows up in the Fill tool\u2019s properties window as an Indicator.  It has five boxes, which range in value from smallest gap on the left to largest on the right.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it\u2019s not checked, the value is set to zero; Clip Studio Paint will not attempt to close any gap.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once it\u2019s turned on, the values start at 1 and range up to 20, incrementally.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That number describes the size of the gap, in pixels, that Clip Studio Paint will fill in for you.  By default, the steps are 1, 3, 5, 10, and 20. If you need to cover larger gaps, you have two options:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Switch to the slider view<\/strong>.  CTRL-Click on the \u201cClose Gap\u201d area and click on \u201cShow Indicator\u201d option.  Now, all options from .1 to 50 pixels are available to you.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    I\u2019d recommend sticking with the Indicator, though.  This isn\u2019t the kind of tool that you\u2019ll be looking for such fine-grained control of the values.  Having five set numbers to choose from will likely be everything you ever need.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It might be worth modifying those numbers to fit your style. That brings us to the second option:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2.  You can change the values of each of those boxes.  CTRL-Click or right click on the \u201cClose Gap\u201d again and click on \u201cIndicator Settings.\u201d  That will lay out the values of the five boxes.  You can change those values to anything from .1 to 50.  Don\u2019t try anything tricky here; Clip Studio Paint will force you to choose numbers in ascending order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Play with these numbers.  Depending on your art style and the resolution you\u2019re working in, you might not see much difference between 1, 3, and 5.  Or you might need to close much larger gaps than 20 pixels.  Experience with this setting will lead you to where those numbers should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Solution<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    When I tried the first block in the Indicator, it didn\u2019t work:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The gap is bigger than one pixel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In this case, I needed the third block in the Indicator.  That covered the 5 pixel gap in the image.  I could have used the fourth or fifth block, as well, to get the same results in this case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Depending on the shape of the gap, you\u2019ll sometimes get results that will require a bit of cleanup.  The \u201cfill\u201d can sometimes extend out just a bit.   Erasing that one little bit is still a lot less work than manually filling the whole space in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The \u201cClose Gap\u201d option will save you a lot of work when it comes to coloring in your art.  It\u2019s not complicated at all, but it will take you a little experience to get the feel for it.  It\u2019s worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Video Companion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n